The Daring Librarian

Do you ever get stuck clicking around Amazon buying random stuff you may not really need but suddenly desire? Do you have a mountain of Amazon boxes in your kitchen waiting for each recycle day? Yeah, me neither! [cough] Like today, among other things, I got a Misto Brushed Aluminum Olive Oil Sprayer for my roasted cauliflower & Brussels sprouts addiction and a set of 4 Le Creuset Silicone French Coasters for the Coastal Cottage . You never know what you might find! But sometimes I stumble across something that sparks my creativity and I'm like - SO COOL!....Now what can I do with it?  This was the case with a set of 100 antique looking keys I found that came with raffia cords & brown card stock tags....all for only $20.99. Officially, it's called: SL crafts Mixed 100pcs Skeleton Keys & 100 pcs Kraft Tags Antiqued Brass Bronze Charms Pendants Wedding favor 34mm-68mm I mean, 100 fancy keys, 100 custom cut out tags, and 100 raffia cords? Bargain!   The...

I love books. I love art.  I love Etsy. I love funky stuff. I love recycling and upcycling. This artist on Etsy combines both! Nifty & Thrifty Crafter Meet Kim Franklin (aka) the Trashy Crafter and here's her nifty thrifty story: "... I love to go to thrift stores, I think mainly because it's such an adventure!  Anywho, my Mom and I were at a thrift store when we saw them throwing out hundreds of damaged and outdated books.  This made me really sad, there had to be someway to recycled them into something useful and beautiful.  My Mom and I grabbed about 50 books and threw then into the back of our truck and headed home.  The books sat in a corner of my tiny bedroom for a few months as I finished up finals for my senior year at UCSD. Soon after graduating I remembered my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Bryant had taught us how to roll  paper beads from magazine paper, but it was so flimsy and not sturdy.  So I thought, why not turn this beauti...

Sure, I usually blog about technology, geeky stuff, and libraries... but beneath it all the Daring Librarian is a girlie girl who likes bling & beauty products!  So, in the spirit of this holiday season, if you don't know what to get your gal or if you love getting pretty stuffs in the mail each month, let me introduce you to Birchbox ! Basically, for only $10 a month, you receive a collection of beauty products (some sample size & some full size) and it's always a surprise. The fun in this? You never know what you're getting AND it allows you to try a product before you invest a ton of money in something without knowing if you'll like it or not.  Genius, I know. There's also a subscription for the guys in your life! So get that metro-sexual dude of yours great grooming products! From the site: "Birchbox delivers the best products and the best insider secrets, without any fuss. Every month Birchbox members will receive a curated box of luxe beau...

I admit it... I have an Etsy.com addiction. Last week I bought 3 big over the top gorgeous sem-precious stone rings from DazzleFinger and 2000 year old Roman/Bactrian Glass sterling necklace & earring set from HARDWEARART . Being on VaCa brings out the interweb shopper in me! I also admit, I have a bling and jewelry addiction problem. Admitting it is the first step. ANYway..... ....Seeing that Aunt June was a Featured artist on the Etsy front page, I discovered & immediately LOVED this Overdue Book Calendar for Institutions & Schools ! It's so graphic cool! Cute but not TOO Elementary for my Middle School kids! The super talented AuntJune has hand drawn illustrations and pages that once you buy it - you'll get a .PDF to download and print for your ENTIRE SCHOOL! Only $30.00! You can print these out and give them to your kids so they can keep track of their due dates VISUALLY! (my kids rare...